Student Council Evaluation
Key Strengths of the Student Council
· All students are aware of the Student Council and its role within the school
· The Student Council is a way for the students voice to be heard in the school- tutor time is an excellent way to ensure that all student councillors are reporting back to their class and involving other students in the work of the Student Council.
· Student Council members are elected by other students, council is a representative body, and elections were fair and democratic.
· Student Council members are interested, committed and willing to participate in meetings and projects
· More experienced Student Council members are confident and competent in their role
· Website is an excellent resource- however a student blog would help to keep the site fresh. The web address should be promoted in the main resource area of the school along with the class rep profiles. Hopefully this will encourage students to visit the site.
Things achieved by the student council:
·Being involved in anti-bullying week (advising on materials proposed) and Stand Up week (organising the Colour walk)
· Student Council notice board- keeping it updated, informing and representing their class groups.
· Fund raising activities, Colour walk, Quiz, making the presentation for funding from the youth bank and the draw for the Bus shelter ( also seeing the project to its completion)
·Good communication of day to day issues affecting students and reporting of same to school management.
Key Recommendations for future councils:
Team Building: The Team building day at the start of the year helped class leaders to get to know each other and helped them to feel more comfortable in each other’s company. This helped greatly to make them feel more confident relaxed and in discussions and meetings. The students felt this was a really worthwhile exercise that could be expanded on by doing another team building exercise mid-way through the year. The team building day is essential to good functioning council and it must be carried out as early as possible during the councils training period. A second team build (1/2 day) would be a good way of rejuvenating enthusiasm to see out the year strong.
Work plan: The student council should try to develop a work plan with one or two key actions to help guide their work throughout the year. There is always a lot of feedback regarding items raised that don’t always seem to be followed through, this year’s project of the Bus shelter gave a good focus and provided something tangible to the student body which represented some of this year’s student councils work. This said, the key priority of the class leader is to provide a voice for their class, good communication is of paramount importance to the student body seeing the council as being worthwhile.
Link to management: The head boy and girl met with the new board of management during the year, it was good to see they were confident to express their opinion on school matters when asked. I would suggest that the new head boy and girl meet with the board once a term as the first meeting may only be a formality but the subsequent meetings may be more revealing and of benefit to all the stakeholder. I would also suggest that at least one meeting with the parents association would improve parents understanding of the important role the council plays in the schools development.
Meetings; Feedback from the student regarding 40 minutes meetings, tends to be short in adequate to covering each agenda well. I would propose extend the meeting time to 80 minutes or having two meetings close together. When possible keep tutor class format close the meetings as this format works best for the students, and try not avoid including issues raised at the meetings on the agenda of the tutor class.
Continuity: A meeting should take place where the incoming council and a cross section of the outgoing council should take place early in the training period of the new council. This would allow the new council to get a picture of where they left off and any unfinished business the new council may need to continue
Student Council Evaluation
Key Strengths of the Student Council
· All students are aware of the Student Council and its role within the school
· The Student Council is a way for the students voice to be heard in the school- tutor time is an excellent way to ensure that all student councillors are reporting back to their class and involving other students in the work of the Student Council.
· Student Council members are elected by other students, council is a representative body, and elections were fair and democratic.
· Student Council members are interested, committed and willing to participate in meetings and projects
· More experienced Student Council members are confident and competent in their role
· Website is an excellent resource- however a student blog would help to keep the site fresh. The web address should be promoted in the main resource area of the school along with the class rep profiles. Hopefully this will encourage students to visit the site.
Things achieved by the student council:
·Being involved in anti-bullying week (advising on materials proposed) and Stand Up week (organising the Colour walk)
· Student Council notice board- keeping it updated, informing and representing their class groups.
· Fund raising activities, Colour walk, Quiz, making the presentation for funding from the youth bank and the draw for the Bus shelter ( also seeing the project to its completion)
·Good communication of day to day issues affecting students and reporting of same to school management.
Key Recommendations for future councils:
Team Building: The Team building day at the start of the year helped class leaders to get to know each other and helped them to feel more comfortable in each other’s company. This helped greatly to make them feel more confident relaxed and in discussions and meetings. The students felt this was a really worthwhile exercise that could be expanded on by doing another team building exercise mid-way through the year. The team building day is essential to good functioning council and it must be carried out as early as possible during the councils training period. A second team build (1/2 day) would be a good way of rejuvenating enthusiasm to see out the year strong.
Work plan: The student council should try to develop a work plan with one or two key actions to help guide their work throughout the year. There is always a lot of feedback regarding items raised that don’t always seem to be followed through, this year’s project of the Bus shelter gave a good focus and provided something tangible to the student body which represented some of this year’s student councils work. This said, the key priority of the class leader is to provide a voice for their class, good communication is of paramount importance to the student body seeing the council as being worthwhile.
Link to management: The head boy and girl met with the new board of management during the year, it was good to see they were confident to express their opinion on school matters when asked. I would suggest that the new head boy and girl meet with the board once a term as the first meeting may only be a formality but the subsequent meetings may be more revealing and of benefit to all the stakeholder. I would also suggest that at least one meeting with the parents association would improve parents understanding of the important role the council plays in the schools development.
Meetings; Feedback from the student regarding 40 minutes meetings, tends to be short in adequate to covering each agenda well. I would propose extend the meeting time to 80 minutes or having two meetings close together. When possible keep tutor class format close the meetings as this format works best for the students, and try not avoid including issues raised at the meetings on the agenda of the tutor class.
Continuity: A meeting should take place where the incoming council and a cross section of the outgoing council should take place early in the training period of the new council. This would allow the new council to get a picture of where they left off and any unfinished business the new council may need to continue